The Next Brick to Decorate Your Wall: iOS 3.x Devices

Well, it might be safe to say that Apple’s own engineers stopped testing their Apple apps with 3.x iOS devices, and have created bugs that make these apps unusable. This is to be somewhat expected, Apple has a track record of not-so-great backwards compatibility (on the Mac), but what we also expected was to not get these broken updates forced to us. It’s one thing to stop updating the firmware of older iOS models, and another thing breaking them.

I own both a 1st Generation iPod Touch and iPhone, both running the latest available for them 3.1.2 firmware. A few weeks ago I noticed that the “Remote” app had an update on the App Store, so I naturally updated it (there was no reason to think that this was not a good idea, since the update was marked as available for my model). Unfortunately, that version had stopped working properly. There were major bugs all over the place, from widgets not working, commands not carrying through, etc. It was like the app fell from “stable” status to “alpha” after that update. But what I also noticed was that my other, 2nd Generation iPod Touch, running firmware 4.x, was working fine with the app.

I publicly nagged about it on a related Gizmodo story, so a helpful Apple support person who happened to read my comment, emailed me and offered assistance. After filing a bug report with Apple’s bug system, and explaining the situation to him too, the eventual deal (after about 17 emails of back and forth) was to send 3 engineers at my house to debug the problem — since I live close to Apple’s headquarters. After two postpones on Apple’s part, these engineers never arrived, but I was promised that the engineers are looking at the problem. So far, after about 2 months, no new update was issued for “Remote” on the App Store.

But you know, these things happen. Bugs happen, and fixing them takes time. I would have never publicly write the above paragraph (especially since that support employee genuinely tried to help), if a second event hadn’t happen in the last few days, that revealed to me what the root of the problem probably was.

So, as you might have read online, the App Store got an update a week or so ago. If an app was an update of an already installed app, its update button will be showing as “Update”, instead of “Install”. So far, so good. A useful feature.

The problem is that the engineers who wrote that piece of new javascript there (since the App Store is based on WebKit), seemingly never tested it with 3.1.x firmware. That piece of js there reproducibly does not work with devices that still run iOS 3.1.2, and can’t upgrade to iOS 4.x. When you click the “Update” button, the “Install” button appears, and when you click the “Install” button, the “Update” button comes back up. No update ever takes place. The discussionforums are FULL of complaints about this (several threads about the same problem)! All iOS devices running 3.1.x firmware can not update their apps anymore! And this includes newer models that their users decided to not upgrade their firmware for some personal reason.

There are some workarounds, for example the “Update all” (in the main update screen) button still works. But this is not convenient, since after seeing the new bugs of the “Remote” app has on my 1st Gen iPod Touch, I don’t want to force an update of that app on my 1st Gen iPhone too. The other workaround is to delete completely an app that’s pending update, and re-install it from scratch. Hardly elegant.

All this shows to me that Apple does not take a good care on users who still use older models, models that still work without a problem otherwise. Look, I’m not asking here to support them by releasing new app or firmware versions for them. If anything, I’m asking for NO updates for these models! I’m asking to not break existing functionality. The App Store update got forced on us, without its engineers properly testing with the 3.1.2 firmware, and without ourselves being able to go to a previous version! Apple should have had some sort of mechanism to not suggest/push/force updates of apps that either are not compatible, or were merely never tested with 3.1.x.

Make no mistake, this is not a mere case of obsolescence. When Macs stopped getting support for new OSX versions for example, they still worked for years to come, and new apps or software updates simply didn’t install/showed on them! But this is a different case! This is a case of FORCEFUL BREAKAGE (as in the case of the remote App Store update), or apps showing as compatible, leading users to update and break them (as in the case of “Remote” app)!

Right now, users like me are just sitting with devices resembling semi-bricks. If developers, and especially the Apple engineers, don’t get more careful about how they mark compatible their apps, our devices will get more and more app problems as time goes by. As I said in the beginning, it’s one thing to stop updating the firmware or apps of older models, and another thing breaking official apps by forcing updates that are not compatible.

Apples success is based on lock-in and control. You aren’t supposed to use Apple devices for more than 3 or 4 years. The battery should be dead now or it should die soon. So the number of people that will complain about this in relation to general consumers will be small.

Apple can’t keep it’s current stock price if profits don’t go up, so you have to buy new devices every 2 years. Real Apple fans will have no problem with that.

The 3.1.2 firmware is not more than 1.5 years old though. If not for the devices themselves, that software version should have been supported for longer. However, as I tried to explain in the article, it’s NOT about supporting. If Apple doesn’t want to support these devices/firmwares, that’s fine. My problem comes with BREAKING them. There’s a *distinct difference* there.

I’m well aware of how Apple has conducted business with its Mac lines, and how they eliminated older products from new OSX versions, drivers etc. But you see, they never *broke* these Macs! I still have my Powerbook from 2003, it still works without problems, and the apps that don’t work with it, well, they don’t even install.

But in this case, we’re FORCED updates or apps (the App Store update was remote), or we’re led to believe that some apps showing as updatable are compatible with our device, when they’re clearly not!

If this is part of the plan as you claim, to *break devices on purpose after a while so people buy new stuff*, then this could go to court. I’m not a lawyer, neither I’m interested to sue, but if what you say is true, then this whole thing feels like a con. But I don’t believe that Apple is a con artist company. I think they just took the whole matter not very seriously, and stopped testing with 3.x to save engineering time. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I’m just not happy with the whole situation.

If you visit Korea and see what is happening over there, you would be very surprised then. Keeping a phone for more than a year or two? They would respond “How??” and/or “Why??” .. For them it doesn’t matter which brand; Samsung, LG or whatever. .. Oh, the only exception is iPhone.

Apples success is based on lock-in and control. You aren’t supposed to use Apple devices for more than 3 or 4 years. The battery should be dead now or it should die soon. So the number of people that will complain about this in relation to general consumers will be small.

Apple can’t keep it’s current stock price if profits don’t go up, so you have to buy new devices every 2 years. Real Apple fans will have no problem with that.

So hang on, it is apparently ok when Android vendors throw their customers under the train every 6 months but it is a travesty when devices older than 2 years don’t get a operating system upgrade. Am I the only one who observes this bullshit trend here on OSNews and the number who whine about Apple but ignore what Android vendors do? Planned obsolesce part of the strategy? I’d say it is more the question, “How long does the average customer keep their phone and is it worth pandering to the 2% of cheapskates out there who expect their devices to last for ever?”

Why is it when Android vendors have some of the worst track records when it comes to customer support there are morons here who praise Android for its openness (whilst ignoring the fact that the only way you can upgrade it yourself is to hack the device – I thought it was meant to be open source! if it was open source in my definition of the concept then I shouldn’t need to hack the device to apply an upgrade! I should be able to grab the source, compile it and then transfer the image the phone!) and yet ignore what is happening out in the real world. I swear the hatred of Apple by some has blinded them to how they’re being shafted by the organisations they put up as champions.

For those who think I am an iPhone fanboy, I don’t even own one – I’m holdout for the WP7 phone to come to New Zealand on the XT Network.

Not exactly the same. Android makers just tend to abandon it. (I would never buy an android device I wasn’t willing to hack personally)

Eugenia is complaining about updates that actively break things. Getting updates that break stuff is worse than not getting updates in the first place.

This doesn’t validate the lackluster Android update process in any way though, bringing it into the conversion however is distracting and an invitation to flame wars.

Well then Apple is at fault for having a ‘maximum tested’ but no ‘minimum version test for’ – something that Apple needs to get sorted out but then again such issues also exist with Android when they moved from the interpreter based running to JIT – some applications ‘had issues’ with the new way of doing things.

All in all I think that all vendors need to lift their game but the problem sits in two camps; she is running a phone over 3 years old but at the same time its Apple’s responsibility to have a minimum tested so that updates aren’t pushed onto iOS releases that have known issues resolved in later updates.

All in all I think that all vendors need to lift their game but the problem sits in two camps; she is running a phone over 3 years old but at the same time its Apple’s responsibility to have a minimum tested so that updates aren’t pushed onto iOS releases that have known issues resolved in later updates.

What a load of BS. This is nothing other than Apple’s fault. You should be able to use an older device with the features it came with until it dies without additional updates from the manufacturer. It is in no way Eugina’s fault. Apple screwed up her device, she did nothing to cause it.

First of all, no one in this thread has mentioned Android nor compared Android phones to Iphones. Furthermore, there happen to be several other smartphone OSs that are non-Apple. I own a Palm Treo that is three years old and still going strong. It’s very solid, and I intend to use it for many years to come.

Secondly, the author has explained in this thread that the problem with her Apple device is not exactly a lack of support — the problem is support that actually breaks her Apple device. Google, Apple and others may abandon support for their devices, but bricking those devices for their unsuspecting owners is something else entirely.

First of all, no one in this thread has mentioned Android nor compared Android phones to Iphones. Furthermore, there happen to be several other smartphone OSs that are non-Apple. I own a Palm Treo that is three years old and still going strong. It’s very solid, and I intend to use it for many years to come.

I raised it because Android is the second option in the marketplace at the moment until WP7 is more widely spread around the world and on more networks. If you’re going to complain about something then it should be only fair to benchmark it against something which in my case I use iOS’s greatest competitor, Android, as that benchmark. If you’re going to complain you never are going to complain about something in a vacuum – it’ll be based off a culmination of experiences in the past and what exists today. When I praise Mac OS X, I don’t do it in a vacuum I do it based on my past experiences using a variety of operating systems – my evaluation therefore never occurs in a vacuum.

Secondly, the author has explained in this thread that the problem with her Apple device is not exactly a lack of support — the problem is support that actually breaks her Apple device. Google, Apple and others may abandon support for their devices, but bricking those devices for their unsuspecting owners is something else entirely.

She has a buggy application – her whole device didn’t ‘brick’. A bricked device would mean her whole operating system image was corrupted in some way and is unable to either boot or recovered. From what I read it was a buggy application due to some shoddy testing and setup at Apple’s end but then again I guess I’m lucky that I’m happy to upgrade every 2-3 years.

>If you’re going to complain about something then it should be only fair to benchmark it against something which in my case I use iOS’s greatest competitor, Android

Sure, no problem. Google’s own apps and services still work without a problem on Android 1.5 phones, an OS version released in April 2009 (which is the OLDEST version of Android still out there on handsets). Remember, the problematic iOS 3.1.2 firmware version is NEWER than Android 1.5. It is NOT a matter of how old the handset is, but how old the firmware is, because the bugs I see are software-related, not driver/hardware-based.

So, going back to Android, the new Android versions of these apps were released by Google, but they were not forced on these older handsets, they only made available on the new firmware versions only (versions that the software was actually tested on). I ask nothing more of Apple too.

>it was a buggy application due to some shoddy testing and setup at Apple’s end

It is your right to see the issue as a simple bug awaiting fixing, but I don’t share your opinion. One after the other the Apple apps are reproducibly broken on these older devices (2 official Apple apps in 1.5 months), so I see this as the beginning of the end. Sure the OS might still load, but if most of your apps don’t work anymore, what good is it? It’d be practically-speaking, a brick. We’re not at that point yet, but if this trends continues, and Apple/devs are not more careful on how they mark their apps compatible as, these devices will be practically unusable in just a few short months.

Just one thing came into my mind that the newer release date of the firmware does not necessarily means it is more compatible. But rather API/ABI/Library compatibilities do. So there might be more difference between iOS 3.1.2 and 4.1.x than between Android 1.5 and 1.6. That is what major and minor numberings are for.

Why are you even compare Android 1.5 to 1.6, and then suggesting that 3.1.2 might have bigger differences with 4.x? The point is that Android 1.5 Google apps still work! I’m not interested what Android 1.6 or 2.3, or iOS 4.x are capable of. I’m only asking to continue using my device without bad surprises! The only firmware I’m interested in comparing it with is with itself, back when it was working! I’m not asking for upgrades!

As I said in the beginning, I still have a 2003 Powerbook that works. When new apps/updates/OSes came out, they were not falsely presented as compatible, available for updating/installation, and they were not forced to my laptop either. I just want the same here. This is not much to ask for. To me, that should have been the default!

So do you expect apps from later Android version would surely work on old 1.5 version? I doubt that.

And I think powerbook example is quite irrelevant. at least slightly if not fully. just my thought.

And I am not saying you are asking for much though, even Microsoft cannot guarantee 100% backward compatibility. neither could Google or Apple. And even if it is not impossible to test every situation though it isn’t that easy especially if you’re effort is more on other things. AFAIK they are making next revision of iPad By now I assume the LCD panel for next iPad might be already decided or something. (recall from my own source )

So do you expect apps from later Android version would surely work on old 1.5 version? I doubt that.

No, but updated versions are not pushed to the user. Please re-read the article:

“When Macs stopped getting support for new OSX versions for example, they still worked for years to come, and new apps or software updates simply didn’t install/showed on them! But this is a different case! This is a case of FORCEFUL BREAKAGE (as in the case of the remote App Store update), or apps showing as compatible, leading users to update and break them (as in the case of “Remote” app)! “

>So do you expect apps from later Android version would surely work on old 1.5 version? I doubt that.

Just like the other user replied to you, you don’t seem to understand what this is about. No, I don’t expect them to work. But I don’t expect them to SHOW THEMSELVES as compatible to me, and sure as hell I don’t expect to get updated by force, as it happens on iOS 3.x devices right now. Please, re-read the article, you don’t seem to understand what this is about.

Sure, no problem. Google’s own apps and services still work without a problem on Android 1.5 phones, an OS version released in April 2009 (which is the OLDEST version of Android still out there on handsets). Remember, the problematic iOS 3.1.2 firmware version is NEWER than Android 1.5. It is NOT a matter of how old the handset is, but how old the firmware is, because the bugs I see are software-related, not driver/hardware-based.

But even then there are applications that didn’t transition so well from interpreted to JIT – I can’t name the exact names but I do remember people running Android 2.2 and finding that some 1.6 applications didn’t run so well. As noted in another post I made, they need to have a minimum required so that updates aren’t offered to customers running older iOS versions where the newer version of the application requires a newer version to function properly.

So, going back to Android, the new Android versions of these apps were released by Google, but they were not forced on these older handsets, they only made available on the new firmware versions only (versions that the software was actually tested on). I ask nothing more of Apple too.

Agreed.

It is your right to see the issue as a simple bug awaiting fixing, but I don’t share your opinion. One after the other the Apple apps are reproducibly broken on these older devices (2 official Apple apps in 1.5 months), so I see this as the beginning of the end. Sure the OS might still load, but if most of your apps don’t work anymore, what good is it? It’d be practically-speaking, a brick. We’re not at that point yet, but if this trends continues, and Apple/devs are not more careful on how they mark their apps compatible as, these devices will be practically unusable in just a few short months.

But hang on for a second, lets back up the car and look at the situation – you’re running a device that is over 4 years old, I’d say that is pretty damn good if you ask me where most people would have updated already. This goes back to what I said about Android and why I raised it; with Apple you got 4 years of functionality out of a device and in the case of an Android device it is a ‘brick’ within 6 months. I can understand your frustration regarding the application but I’m confused how you consider a device 4 years old not a good indication of a company actually giving a flying continental about its customers.

Apple was willing to send engineers to see the software problem in action? And you are complaining that they are bricking your device and/or don’t support it? What? I wish Apple engineers would come to my house when something was the matter.

So does Eugenia. Read the article–those engineers never came.

kaiwai sneered…

She has a buggy application – her whole device didn’t ‘brick’. A bricked device would mean her whole operating system image was corrupted in some way and is unable to either boot or recovered. From what I read it was a buggy application due to some shoddy testing and setup at Apple’s end

No, this is more than an application issue–this is a corruption of the entire ecosystem. Apple’s excuse for having such a locked down app store has been that they so rigorously test the applications they allow in the store. This is why all apps have to be approved, why Apple demands money up front and then a cut of the profits, etc. Because they test everything.

Having the Apple App Store claim an app is available for your device which doesn’t work on your device is simply not acceptable. They need to either test everything or stop demanding so much for so little.

kaiwai declared…

you’re running a device that is over 4 years old, I’d say that is pretty damn good if you ask me where most people would have updated already.

It’s an iPod Touch. A music and video player that runs some simple applications…hey! That makes it a computer! You don’t replace your still functioning computer every four years or less do you? Why should anyone replace their iPod Touch that soon when it is still functional in hardware and only poorly tested application and operating system updates that are causing the issues? Issues that given Apple’s software ecosystem should not exist?

The same thing with the iPhone, only it also makes phone calls. It’s a portable computer which is still functional in hardware, just suffering through issues that should not exist considering the Apple application ecosystem. Considering that they are planning on adding App Stores to their desktops and laptops in the next revision of their operating system this development does not leave me feeling very happy. I was considering a MacBook my next time out as my eeepc is starting to feel its age, but with this type of support I’m no longer so sure…

For those who think I am an iPhone fanboy, I don’t even own one – I’m holdout for the WP7 phone to come to New Zealand on the XT Network.

See that right there is the crux of the problem. Anyone who doesn’t share the view that Apple is the devil incarnate, or that Google isn’t the messiah of the tech industry, by default MUST be an Apple fanboy.

Oh, and btw, where the hell did it say anything about bricking the device? An App breaking is hardly bricking the device. FFS grow up…

See that right there is the crux of the problem. Anyone who doesn’t share the view that Apple is the devil incarnate, or that Google isn’t the messiah of the tech industry, by default MUST be an Apple fanboy.

Unfortunately so; or anyone who praises Microsoft for a good decision must either praise Microsoft for all decisions ever taken or must automatically hate some other organisation because of said praise for Microsoft. It is amazing the number of people who hate on Microsoft from the Mac community and hold them to an unrealistically high standard yet willing to over look short falls of Microsofts competitors products. Case in point, iWork vs. Microsoft Office 2011 being the best example – haters going to hate because its from Microsoft – yes there are bugs but to ignore the massive missing features from iWork pretty much destroys ones argument against Microsoft.

Oh, and btw, where the hell did it say anything about bricking the device? An App breaking is hardly bricking the device. FFS grow up…

This forum runs on drama; lives, breaths and eats drama – where would it be without it?

Assuming that Google support is crap, doesn’t mean that what apple does is right. And hey, have you read the article? Our guy here said he *DOESN’T* want any update from Apple. Have you read it? Have you read that Apple DOES update old devices, but providing UNTESTED software that actually makes them UNUSABLE? Ok, that’s the problem.

This was not a comparison of which company is better or worse. Because if my previous iPod has been made unusable, I don’t really care about android stuff. That’s all.

So hang on, it is apparently ok when Android vendors throw their customers under the train every 6 months but it is a travesty when devices older than 2 years don’t get a operating system upgrade. Am I the only one who observes this bullshit trend here on OSNews and the number who whine about Apple but ignore what Android vendors do? Planned obsolesce part of the strategy? I’d say it is more the question, “How long does the average customer keep their phone and is it worth pandering to the 2% of cheapskates out there who expect their devices to last for ever?”

If your definition of a cheapskate is someone who keeps a Â£500 device for more than two years before ditching it, I don’t envy your bank balance. Actually, I might envy your bank balance as it suggests you’ve got enough in it to render that amount shall change. For many people though, that’s almost two months rent.

Its not just about “How long does the average customer keep their phone”. The average iPhone buyer may be well off, but there will be a significant minority for whom this is a one time expense. Their brand commitment should be acknowledged.

I agree with you completely. For OSnews members, Apple is the new fun company to bash. Which is why I don’t come here all that often anymore. It’s not that I’m a diehard fanboy. I own a Mac, but also run Windows and Linux (and BSD now too).

I just get tired of the obvious slant here. It’s about as unbiased as Fox News.

That being said, Eugenia is right about the updating thing. They need to put in a mechanism for realizing you’ve only got version 3.1.x on your device, and not automatically push out updates if it’s incompatible.

That doesn’t seem to be too much to ask. However I fail to see how this bug has caused so much trouble. Don’t we all keep backups of the older versions of the tiny apps? Or is that just me?

I’ve actually run into this myself, and if you’ve got the older version, it’s just not that big of a deal.

Right, I guess that’s why every Apple product review I or we have ever ran has been utterly positive.

I guess you just don’t understand that there are people who don’t feel anything when it comes to a company, and just judge its individual products and actions on their merits – instead of the entire company as a whole.

Right, I guess that’s why every Apple product review I or we have ever ran has been utterly positive.

To be fair to Polaris, he did specify OSNews members, which suggests he’s talking about comments rather than reviews.

I guess you just don’t understand that there are people who don’t feel anything when it comes to a company, and just judge its individual products and actions on their merits – instead of the entire company as a whole.

Very few techie minded people (and there can’t be many non-techie minded people reading this web site regularly) don’t have some sort of ‘feeling’ for Apple as a whole.

Unfortunately that’s how it is all over the industry, not just with Apple. Look at Sony with the PS3. They go so far as to advertise its Linux compatibility, then when a bunch of geeks go out and buy loss-leader PS3s to run Linux instead of buying and playing near-100% profit games, they put out a series of firmware updates to remove the Linux compatibility. It’s pure bait-and-switch but the mainstream press didn’t even bat an eye at it.

Bottom line, if you’re a good little consumer you’ll get shafted to your face, but if you’re a penny pincher who likes to hold on to old tech that’s still otherwise useful, you get bent over and shafted behind the building. Either way they screw you.

If you are still under contract for that phone, it better damn well still work. This is really BS! You enter a contract for the phone, pay for it for 2 years, and then when you are done, they break it? Would you allow your auto dealer to junk your car right after you make the last payment? After the contract is up, the phone is YOURS! Apple destroying it is destruction of property they don’t own. Someone needs to sue these ***holes.

Personally, I think the android comment is relevant. Apple breaking your apps is different, but the bigger picture is a woeful culture of support for mobile technology – and one that seems to be implicitly accepted (despite being environmentally unsound).

I’m thinking back to my Sony clie that ran on the old palm os. As soon as you bought one of these you knew that it would be abandoned as far as upgrades went. That was always the strategy to get you to upgrade your hardware. At least things have improved a little bit – didn’t ios4 install on at least some devices that came out with ios3?

I’m not defending it. Be good to know which vendors are actually willing to update their devices. Maybe if devices/vendors were actively compared on this is would help?

I know it’s my own experience, but I have a 1st Gen iPod Touch and have not encountered any of these problems. Still works great to download and update applications.

And seriously – Apple was willing to send engineers to see the software problem in action? And you are complaining that they are bricking your device and/or don’t support it? What? I wish Apple engineers would come to my house when something was the matter.

Everyone else I discussed the issue could not update via the app store in these 3.x devices. You’re the first who claims it works.

To test something: temporarily remove the credit card information from your iTunes account, and then try to update an app through the device’s App Store. Not install anew, but update via the apps’s own “update” button (not the “update all”).

Over here, on two different devices, and everyone else I read with similar devices, can’t update.

>And seriously – Apple was willing to send engineers to see the software problem in action?

No, it was for a DIFFERENT problem, not the recent App Store one, which is the main issue discussed in the article. It was for the “Remote” app. They never came btw. The first time out of the two I was waiting for them all day.

Besides, just because they promised to do something that eventually didn’t do, doesn’t mean that I have to pay lip service to them for breaking even more apps a month later! You might feel that I need to give Apple an easier time for being friendly, and possibly never write this article I wrote, but the bottomline is the App Store is broken, and so is the Remote app.

Bug reports have already being filed, it’s mentioned in the article. But it’s a different thing when bugs happen as part of the normal process, and when bugs happen because they don’t test anymore with older versions (which is what I believe is happening). In the first case, the bug will get fixed eventually. In the second case, it will never will get fixed, because the new libraries don’t have the same features/bugs/APIs. And that’s a _big difference_ right there.

They should never have released iOS4 for the 3G iPhone. It was a complete mess. I had to uninstall it off my phone because it ran like treacle.

But by making it available developers came to the conclusion that they only need to bother supporting iOS4, because on the iPhone side the only phone that couldn’t run it was the original 2G iPhone.

Some really simple apps in the App Store that don’t need iOS4 specific features are still marked as requiring iOS4, making it unavailable to users who iOS4 is not available for – or users who cannot run it for performance reasons.

I understand your outrage and I would act the same way as you IF I would be an owner of an iOS device. But I am not an owner of an iOS device and am not planing to be one.

For me it is very clear that if you buy and use an iOS device then you are giving away the control of that device to Apple. Off course you can jail break it and do fancy stuff but if you stay away from those things then one thing is crystal clear to me: You are just an user of a device that you have paid but in reality you don’t really own it.

This has benefits for you as an user (for example: Apple keeps care of the quality of applications in their app store, etc) but it has an negative aspect too (depend how much weight you give to the other side).

And IMHO you are now hitting that negative side and you are not happy with it.

The example you have made with the Mac from Year 2003 is IMHO not valid since on that Mac you are the one controlling what to install and what not to install. And if you want, you can wipe the whole OS from that 2003 hardware and install Linux, BSD or any other OS that support your arch/CPU.

This is fundamentally different than with an iOS device. There it’s not you that is in control of the device. It’s some one else. You are just the user (with some freedom to install additional apps or remove apps but in no way do you have the same freedom as you have on your Year 2003 system).

Anyway… what I want to say is that I understand your outrage but on the same time I don’t have an understanding for your outrage because it is an iOS device.

I have used iOS/Mac OS X in the past and you don’t need to be a rocket science to know that there is an “Apple way” and that YOU as an user have to adapt to that “Apple way” and not the other way around. Often you get used to that “Apple way” and you have a benefit from that “Apple way” and from the strong leader (Apple). But there are times where things don’t go the way you would love them to go. But you can’t praise that strong leadership/control of Apple and then again swearing on that strong leadership/control.

Sorry if this sounds like Apple bashing. It’s not. I don’t hate Apple nor do I wish them anything bad nor do I have anything against Apple users, etc…

Usually I would not respond to such messages and especially not to one made by Eugenia (you often have IMHO a strong point and there is no room for argumentation because you just hit the nail on the head) but this time I had to. It puzzles me that you are so much surprised about the whole issue. It’s an iOS device and a device that is made to be connected to the net and it’s an device controlled by Apple. That automatic and forced mechanism of pushing applications or OS updates is one of the strong points of that device. And you knew that in advance. And you knew in advance that you don’t have 100% full control of that pushing mechanism. So why do you now act so surprised? You have been in here (on OSnews) for so long and you for sure know that no vendor is 100% error free. So why does it surprise you that Apple has made such a bad update?

So, in my iTunes, not only most applications get to keep their older versions in the app folder, the ones that do not can be quickly retrieved from the recycle bin, at least in Windows 7. All you need to do is remove the latest version from the app folder, restore the old version (if it is in the recycle bin) and there you have it, back like magic.

I’m not saying it is fine for apple to push updates that will make apps useless, but I am surprised the engineers don’t even suggest this fix

is sensationalistic BS. The next brick? Really? That’s amusing, because it’s not in any way bricked. It is fully useful. I’ve got 11 apps currently sitting in my update cue, and they ALL support v.3.0.x.

If, in the case where it doesn’t work, remove the app, and put the old version back. You do make backups, right?

If it does indeed “brick” the device (this doesn’t really happen anyway) then reset it, reload it from backup (which happens every time you sync the device), and be happy with a functioning device.

There’s no bricking here. Stop being sensationalistic, lest it appears you’re trying to get click revenue.

1st gen iPod touches are still very much vital devices, and more useful than they were when they first come out. While the update model needs to be fixed, that’s not a glaring, massive issue in need of an article.

“Well, it might be safe to say that Apple’s own engineers stopped testing their Apple apps with 3.x iOS devices”

Really? And what other apps did you test from Apple that were cleared to work on 3.1.3, but did not work? What other apps from other vendors that were cleared to work on 3.1.3 don’t work?

I need to call my dad. He’s got a gen 1 too, and apparently he’s not actually using all those apps he’s using. Must be his imagination. He actually owns a brick.

I have tested the issue and the “App Store” works fine when it is used with iTunes on the computer. It does not install the App if the device is not compatible.

The issue, I believe is related to the programming environment. New versions of XCode do not check compatibility with older devices automatically. The developer needs to keep two versions of the Xcode, one to test 3.1.2 compatibility and another one to develop for iOS 4 and up.

The new XCode can set the minimum target for 3.1.2 but it does not do anything to check if the code is compatible with 3.1.2.

That is all just about compilation which doesn’t really check if things work, just that the API you are using is available on that older version. To check properly you have to test on actual hardware. There is however nothing stopping building against 4.2, yet having the minimum target set to 3.0, which is an option and then just installing on a 3.x device and testing. 3.0 may be the lowest version that can be targeted now though.

What I really do not get is the reaction to the situation, such could happen quite often on any platform and for such big companies updates could take quite long to come out. Happened to Microsoft and all but only to Apple. Human can make mistakes. So do you mean you do not make any mistakes at all? Gosh… and OSNews becoming MS fanboy blog website. If I say ‘you are MS fan’ to someone calling others ‘Apple fan’, my comment is voted down.. Crap..